So Florida Coach Billy Donovan decided to take his Gators on a tour when the team came to New Orleans. What do you think he picked: Mardi Gras World? One of the many Ghost Tours? The Garden District homes? No, he chose the 9th Ward.

Why bring a group of basketball players who are in the most fun time of the year to an area hit with the worst man-made disaster in American history?

Perspective.

"My intent was to take the focus off themselves and show that maybe what they are going through in life isn't that bad," Donovan said. "This can maybe take you away from what you think major problems in your life."

It's moves like this that Donovan uses to keep his very talented team from becoming a very talented group of individuals. He has become a master of keeping the defending national champions focused. There's always the danger of a guy feeling he didn't get enough shots, or wanting to put on a show for the pro scouts.

"The thing that is most impressive is how he gets his team to do a lot of little things," Purdue Coach Matt Painter said. "The things you try to get your kids to do, they do."

But, taking that tour of the 9th Ward, in fact, was intended to do just the opposite in the players lives. Don't focus on little things that aren't important, focus on the bigger picture.

"It was an eye-opening experience. When you have the opportunity to see what people went through here, it puts things into perspective," Donovan said. "The coach over at Delgado (Tommy Smith), he lost everything. You look at how many lives were affected. I thought it was important that our guys got to see some of that."

Gators guard Lee Humphrey said Donovan's approach to coaching is the same. Keep the team focused and humble. It's an off and on the court thing. Perhaps this is the reason Florida is a strong favorite to do something that hasn't been done since Duke in 1991 and '92, win back-to-back national championships.

"He wants us to have a good level of humility so we don't go out and lose games," Humphrey said.

With the motivation he's using, Donovan is hoping his team won't lose more than that.